Royal ‘I do’ to a white wedding
QUESTION Are there any colours considered unlucky to wear at a wedding if you are a bride, groom or guest?
Though Queen Victoria is remembered for her funereal wardrobe — she wore black for four decades after the death of her beloved husband, Albert, in 1861 — she popularised the white wedding dress.
Following the couple’s nuptials in 1840, illustrations of the ceremony were widely published and it became fashionable to copy the Queen’s choice of colour.
Contrary to popular belief, white has nothing to do with notions of purity. It was chosen by Victoria because it was the perfect colour to highlight the delicate honiton lace of her bridal gown.
until the 19th century, clothing was rarely bought specially for weddings. Brides wore their best dress, while grooms and guests attended in their Sunday best. In peasant communities, national costume was worn.
The morning suit favoured by modern grooms and ushers was derived from late 19th-century formal riding attire.
It was late-Victorian folklorists who spread the notion that various colours were unlucky at weddings.
In an era of superstition, where people believed in supernatural creatures, green was considered the colour of the ‘faerie’ and was thus considered unlucky.
There was also an underlying moral tone — ‘had a green gown’ implied loose morals with a predilection for tumbling in the undergrowth.
one rhyme described the implications of a bride’s colour choice:
Married in white, you have chosen all right, Married in black, you will wish yourself back, Married in red, you wish yourself dead, Married in green, ashamed to be seen, Married in blue, you will always be true, Married in pearl, you will live in a whirl, Married in yellow, ashamed of your fellow, Married in brown, you will live out of town, Married in pink, your fortunes will sink.
White is not a universal colour of wedding dresses. In Mexico and Spain, red is popular. Black was once the colour of choice in Sweden, while green was worn in Norway.
Aubrey Connors, Cheadle, Cheshire.
QUESTION What are the shortest place names in Britain and the world?
The shortest inhabited place in Britain is the Scottish village of Ae in Dumfries & galloway. Founded in 1947, the name was derived from the old Norse A or aa, meaning water or stream.
There are several Norwegian towns and villages known as A — it is pronounced the same as the ‘oo’ in door.
The River e runs into Loch Mhor, which is parallel to its larger neighbour, Loch Ness. Its short name is descended from the Norse word for a river.
The o is a small tributary of the River Dart that flows across Dartmoor. The origin of the name is debated: it may be a shortening of Ocbroke, meaning oak brook, or it may have once been the Wo, from the old english word woh, meaning crooked or twisted.
The River D flows west out of Devils Lake in Lincoln County, oregon, and into the Pacific ocean, which is just 120 ft away at high tide. It did not have a name until 1940, when Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce decided to give the shortest river in the world the shortest name possible.
Pronounced like a short ‘ee,’, Y is a commune in the Picardy region of northern France. The residents are so proud of the name they call themselves Ypsiloniens after the greek letter upsilon.
And there is an entire country called Y — the Vietnamese name for Italy.
Max Davies, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
QUESTION How did Tammany Hall become a byword for corruption?
The Tammany Society, or the Society of St Tammany, was founded in New York on May 12, 1789. It was a branch of a wider network named after a 17thcentury Delaware chief.
A number of patriotic societies and political clubs appeared in the 18th century with various rituals and customs. Tammany hall went as far as to call their meeting hall a wigwam.
It morphed into a stronghold for the Democratic political party. In 1789, the high-ranking Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr used the society to foster opposition against Federalist Alexander hamilton’s Society of the Cincinnati.
Following the collapse of the Federalist Party, the Democratic and Republican Party split into opposing factions in 1824.
From that time, Tammany hall leadership mirrored the local Democratic Party’s executive committee.
Though its popularity stemmed from helping New York’s poor, Tammany hall became known for corruption and the fixing of elections.
In the 19th century, William M. ‘Boss’ Tweed and his acolytes ruled New York like despots. Through their appointment to various boards and commissions, they exerted control over political patronage through Tammany.
Matters came to a head in the 1920s and 1930s when Tammany hall fell under the influence of New York mobsters such as Lucky Luciano.
The beginning of the end came in 1932 when Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced out of office following allegations of corruption. The Depression made the people intolerant of such misconduct.
In 1933, New Yorkers elected Fiorello La guardia as mayor on a fusion ticket, supported by Republicans and Democrats. he was a strong opponent of the Tammany political machine and oversaw its demise.
Sam Lewis, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.